Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Immersion Research Klingon Empire Spray Deck – Review (1 Year On)

Those of you who have followed the site for many years will know that I usually only ever use Playboater spraydecks. I have owned a few and they are always superb. When I initially tried my Immersion Research Klingon Empire Spraydeck I was simply blown away. But how is it 1 year on?

Immersion Research Klingon Empire 1

This is what IR say about the deck:

The Klingon Empire is the same skirt as the Klingon with one major difference- the front casing (the high wear area going over the front portion of the cockpit rim) is laminated with a high thread-count Kevlar™. This very costly strip of woven gold is simply the best possible fabric when it comes to flexible abrasion resistance, making it the perfect choice for people who are exceptionally hard on spray skirts.

The Klingon skirt, with it’s high-tension bungee and extra neoprene extending out past the bungee make it a perfect choice for keeping even the most difficult rims dry. Typical use would include high-end playboating and on creek boats where all other skirt designs seem to leak.

The Klingon Empire had originally been bought for my new Pyranha Jed as I wanted something with a dry lip and bungee. An order to IR in the States and a couple of weeks later it landed. Since then the Klingon Empire has been my go to deck. My other spray decks have not seen the light of day unless a different size was required.

Immersion Research Klingon Empire 2

It is fair to say that the deck has performed extremely well. It’s taken a hammering over the last year and still looks pretty good. The bungee, taping, glue, decals are all as new and the kevlar edging has been a life saver on a number of occasions. I would have wrecked most other decks. I have no holes and no leaks what so ever.

Immersion Research Klingon Empire 3

Even in the largest of surf the deck has never came close to imploding. I’ve got to put this down to the shape of the deck created during construction and the fact that the inner part of the deck that has contact with the boat is coated in a silicon type material and it helps hold the deck in place.

The deck provides an excellent fit on all of the boats I have used it on, other than on the Jackson Karma which was a real struggle the first time I used the boat, but to be fair the XL deck I have won’t fit a XXL cockpit without a bit of a struggle. And despite being used on a huge number of different boats the deck has still retained it shape and grip. A sound investment!

Immersion Research Klingon Empire

2 Comments

  1. Nate

    How long did this end up lasting you?

    • Unsponsored

      Still using it. It’s my go to deck.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2024 Unsponsored

Theme by Anders NorénUp ↑